(0212) Gran Caracas [draft I]

Thick, ashy smog;
Cool breeze rustling through mango trees
A symphony of honking and hydraulic hisses: buses
Countless stray dogs bark hungry,
scrounging bones from leftover tin box lunches

The bent sound of brassy salsa brava
escaping a zooming car
incessant chatter, thousands of anonymous voices
fill ears with desire, humor, and argument

Taxi driver vociferating four-letter words to
distracted pedestrian, glued to his Blackberry,
lips flapping on, middle finger responding;
hacking coughs, cat-calls, cackling gossip
and a pigeon’s flutter

Pick-up truck U-turning at main avenue curb
Collective expletives explode, horns and cop whistles
Driver’s satisfied grin as arms quickly steer onto road:
Viveza criolla –the homeland’s cunning- lives on

Massive ring of lush mountains
battle concrete mammoths to stroke blue skies;
Acrid sewage competes with fried ripe plantains
for nostrils’ attention; sweet, feminine scents trump all

Viejas wave numbered tickets in line to impervious public officer,
as tiny Chevy Aveos speed through yellow lights into rush-hour gridlock;
impatience permeates, until tensions shatter at the sound of
witty Caraqueño punch lines and laughter

Fiery sun slowly hides,
leaving bright trails of orange, pink firmament

Asphalt arteries shine, white and red
Quick hollow pops awaken valley of bullets; primetime novelas
switch on, as middle-class gates shut closed for the evening
Control, cardinal, conurbation, capital

Caracas, Venezuela

Public employees –supportive of the Revolution– singing during a street demonstration in 2007

No McDonalds — “Long live arepas”. Graffiti in Chacao municipality (eastern Caracas) 2007

Downtown Caracas, next to the Liberator, Simon Bolivar’s childhood home – 2007

Milennium Mall — a large shopping center near Boleita in eastern Caracas (2009)

A street vendor selling tropical fruits at the Chacao farmer’s market (2007)

Chacao farmer’s market (2009)

Performance of Gustav Holst “The Planets” by the Caracas Municipal Orchestra in 2009

Good times with my good friend Luis, at Greenwich Pub in Altamira, eastern Caracas (2009)

Yare Devils’ masks and old recycled bottles at la Gran Pulperia shop in western Caracas (2008)

A Mega Mercal –subsidized street market– in downtown Caracas (2007)

Restored Nuevo Circo terminal in downtown Caracas (2007)

Caraqueños are fun — this guy saw me taking pictures and demanded to model with sunglasses on

Lines to get subsidized pork at Mega Mercal market in downtown Caracas (2007)

A view of my home city, from a window of the Hospital de Clinicas Caracas in San Bernardino — western Caracas

Stray dog at Universidad Santa Maria, eastern Caracas

Towards Parque Central towers in downtown Caracas (2008)

An anti-ethanol government ad: “Corn isn’t fuel — against the harvest of death”

After work congestion at eastern Caracas grocery store

Venezuelan guys are cute 😉 (2007 in Parque del Este, eastern Caracas)

Railway transfer station linking the subway (metro) with the railways (downtown/western Caracas in 2007)

Caraqueños and Caraqueñitos

Public workers –Chavez supporters– in street demonstration (2007)

Street vendor selling Hugo Chavez dolls (2007)

Farewell party from co-workers at the Venezuelan Dept. of Industry & Commerce (2007)